Bharat Joshi, British deputy high commissioner, has said that there has been an increase of 5% in the total number of visa applications from India to UK in 2013, when compared to the previous year.

A Visa Application centre was launched in Chennai on 20th March, 2014, on which occasion the British deputy high commissioner spoke to the media people stating that the UK has observed a 20% fall in one year in the category of student visa applications. He said that the fall in the value of the Indian rupee and changes in the rules of the educational institutions in United Kingdom were considered to be the reasons for the drop in the percentage.

He said that the number of Indian students in the UK was 32,000 by the end of December 2013.

Mr Joshi has said that India wants United Kingdom to be its full-fledged partner. As part of this partnership, the latest Visa Application Centre would provide excellent services to its worthy customers. The Visa Application Centre would also provide various facilities, which would even include the courier service for the sake of processing the applications at a faster rate in a short span of time.